The Burgers are Cruisin', Day Seven

On our final day of the cruise we ported in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Wow. We had an absolute blast. This was, by far, my favorite part of the entire cruise. Take a look at what we did...



We were provided with a quick lesson that consisted of a couple of spins around the parking lot. After my wife watched me give it a try she said, "I think I'll ride with my cousin." What can I say, I've never driven a scooter or motorcycle. She ended up riding with me anyway. :)



Lookin' like a natural.



Those helmets cracked me up.



Great picture taken by my wife.



The traffic didn't bother me as much as the cars parked along side the road. You never knew when someone would throw open a door or dart into traffic. I guess that's part of it, though.



We rode through neighborhoods, parks and along the shore. The temperature difference was crazy between the shore and downtown. At times you'd go through a pocket of air that was 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the town. Refreshing!



Scooter riding cousins.



Speedy Purpand.



Check out the double-decker bus. From what I've been told, Victoria is very British and very much like London.



Victoria is the capitol of British Columbia. Here is their capitol building.



Here's the Fairmont Empress located in downtown Victoria. I hear it's famous.



We worked up an appetite.

The Burgers are Cruisin', Day Six

Day six was a travel day. We didn't get off the ship. I took advantage of this and watched Spain versus Germany in the semifinals of the World Cup. There were people from all over the world on this cruise so watching with them was an interesting experience.



Cousin Purpand climbed the rock wall located on the back of the boat.



I stuck with table tennis.



The wait staff in the dining room performed a little song and dance for our entertainment on day six. They really seemed to have a great time doing it.



Lawrence was all smiles.



Towel animal 4: a monkey

The Burgers are Cruisin', Day Five

Day five started at 5:30 in the morning. The captain navigated us through ice and mountains to a place called Tracy Arm Fjord to see the Sawyer Glacier. The further north we went, the more ice appeared in the water.



More ice.



You can see the glacier in the distance.



A close-up of Sawyer Glacier.



Sawyer Island. I'm not sure who this Sawyer guy was, but I can only assume he discovered the glacier.



Here's a big piece of ice that recently fell from the glacier. Notice the bright blue color that covers much of the chunk. We were only able to get about a mile from the glacier. Too many chunks like this one prevented us from getting any closer. Global warming anybody?



Day five was our second formal evening in the dining room. We got all prettied up and took a few pictures.



My wife and father-in-law.



My wife and mother-in-law.



Cousin Purpand gave all the ladies in the family a rose at dinner. He's nice.



My uncle-in-law just retired and brought this jacket with him as a joke. I had to get a picture in it.



Our waitress also liked the jacket. Her name was Rosemarie and she was from the Philippines. Our assistant server, Lawrence, was from India and took great pride in the Indian food he served my wife every night (she loves the stuff). Speaking of food... it was pretty good, but it wasn't spectacular. I never had a bad meal, but I never left hungry, either. You could order as much as you liked. If you wanted two appetizers, two entrees and three deserts, you were allowed. Crazy stuff.



Towel animal number three, a bulldog.

The Burgers are Cruisin', Day Four

Skagway, Alaska... population: 750

Our cruise ship holds over 3000. Needless to say, this town thrives on tourism. It's quite obvious, too. There was so much to see and do.



I chose to take a train from Skagway to Fraser, British Columbia on the White Pass Railway. National geographic recently rated this train ride the 9th best in the entire country.

The trip took about three and a half hours. The scenery was outstanding. This picture was taken near the bottom of the mountain.



Another picture from the train. Notice that the elevation is slightly higher.



This tunnel marked a noticeable change in scenery... before the tunnel, mountains and cliffs. After the tunnel, ponds and meadows.



A pond in the meadow on top of the mountain.



Fresh off the train, here's a picture of my father-in-law and I on top of the mountain in Fraser, BC. Directly after this we boarded a bus and made our way back down the mountain.



On the way down the mountain our tour guide made numerous stops. The first was slightly random, and at first, I didn't really see anything abnormal. It looked like a field of rocks to me. But as I looked closer, I could see what the guide explained to us as Inukshuks. These were rock formations made to look like humans. They're obviously man made, but super cool when there are thousands of them staring at you all at once. No joke, there really were thousands of these next to the road. The guide told us Inukshuks were a welcome sign repopularized by last winter's Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. And since we were on the USA/Canada border, it made sense to see quite a few of them.



Self explanatory.



There are waterfalls all over the place in Alaska and the surrounding area. The mountains are so huge that snow gathers at the top of them. As "summer" progresses, the snow melts and forms some pretty powerful falling water.



Once we made our way back to Skagway on the bus, I stopped to have lunch with my wife and two of her cousins. The three of them went ziplining through the forest. I don't have pictures of that yet, but will post them as soon as I do. Anyway, we went to a pizza joint, had a beer and a pie. The beers were six dollars and the pizza was 27. That's right, a 27 dollar pizza. Ugh. You see, Skagway produces none of its own food. Everything is flown, boated or driven to Skagway from the closest market... 110 miles away. Better be rich to dine out in Skagway!



Here's downtown Skagway. Quiet and simple, eh? Looks a movie set at Universal Studios to me.



Here's the Red Onion Saloon and a couple other buildings. Apparently these are a few of the oldest buildings in Alaska. Notice the jewelry store. There were 27 of them in Skagway.

The Burgers are Cruisin', Day Three

On day three we woke up in Juneau, Alaska. It's located in the southern panhandle of the state, so the weather occasionally gets warm. On this day, however, it was about 55 degrees and rainy.

This picture shows downtown Juneau. The blue building is their wharf district and If you look closely you can see seaplanes floating beneath it. These were mainly used to take tours of the area, but in an emergency, I could see how these would be useful. There are no roads that lead to Juneau. The only way in our out is by plane or boat. Unfortunately Sarah Palin found her way out, though.



After the boat docked, we walked to town. My wife and I stopped to take a quick picture of the Rhapsody of the Seas. She sure is strong. ;)



After our walk into town we stopped to grab a drink at the Red Dog Saloon... the oldest man-made tourist attraction in Juneau. It was interesting to say the least. The floor was covered in sawdust. The walls were covered in writing and the place was absolutely packed.



The Red Dog's signature drink was called a Duck Fart. It was made with kahlua, bailey's and whisky. We had to try one, right?

Right.



Next stop was the wharf district for a taste of local brew. The Hanger on the Wharf provided us with exactly what we needed. I had an Alaskan Brewing Company IPA and the wife had an Amber Ale... two very solid selections.



Oh yeah... and some crab legs. They were good, but not the best I've ever had.



As I was modeling my new gold and blue Juneau windbreaker (perfect for WVU games this fall), a visitor creeped up beside me.

Ha.



We arrived back in our cabin to find an elephant (too bad it wasn't a donkey).

The Burgers are Cruisin' Days, One and Two

There she is... The Rhapsody of the Seas. This was our home for a eight days and seven crazy nights.



We boarded the ship in Seattle. Here's a shot of the skyline from the pool deck of the boat.



My wife's uncle had shirts made for the reunion and we all wore them the first day.



The second day brought us fun and games. Here's a picture of my wife's cousins preppin' to play an extremely overpriced game of bingo.



While we were out playing 32 dollar games of bingo, the ship's cleaning crew made our cabin a little cozier. We frequently arrived back to find towels shaped to look like animals. This one was a wiener dog. More towel animals to come.



The ship was so big that we could go days without seeing each other. So every evening the whole family ate dinner together in the dining room. It was a great way to catch up on the day's activities and find out what the other members of the family were up to. The second day was a formal and this was a picture taken just a few minutes before we began that day's feast.

So yeah, on the first two days we learned the routine... wake up, eat, take a nap, play a game, eat, drink a beer (or three), eat, go to bed.

Pretty simple.